what will the mojo ride be like?

My LBS has informed me that my mojo will soon be here. I have ridden a crappy rental full suspension mtb for about 10 minutes down Kokapelli (sp?) in Moab and couldn't wait to get off of it...that is the full extent of my experience on a full suspension bike. I get the impression that going from a hard tail Kona Kula circa 1996 (which is what I ride) to a mojo may be like a 16 year old getting a Ferrari as a first car... The Kona Kula from back then was billed as a full blown XC race bike. That is all I know about how a mountain bike rides. What do you think the ride differences will be like? I have this impression that my mountain biking eyes are about to be slammed wide open. What were your experiences like on your first ride on a full suspension bike? The mojo? I'm quite anxious to experience what can be done on a mountain bike with what I'm coming to realize (from the reviews in the mags and the posts here) are the capabilities of the Mojo. Your thoughts...?

My first thoughts

I have had my Mojo for 6 days, and I have now ridden 5 different trails. I came from a bike with full suspension (Haro Werks 5).

Personally I don't like this bike. I love it.

I am finding that I like it more after each ride. It's definitely different than my old bike so it was not as impressive on my first ride as it is now. My first few rides were dedicated to getting it dialed in for my size and riding style. I had too much air pressure to start with and I had dropped tire size significantly so my prespective was at a disadvantage on my very first ride. Since that time I have dialed the bike in and I cannot stop riding it. It has lightning fast acceleration and very good handling. I am happy with the stiffness of the bike through corners and switchbacks, and am very very happy with the plushness of the ride through rock gardens and nasty trails.

You can't beat the bling bling factor either....... it is a sick bike.

a mojo may be like a 16 year old getting a Ferrari as a first car... The Kona Kula from back then was billed as a full blown XC race bike.

Just wait until Derby gets a hold of this thread.

Or you can go seek him out, he has some super, and I mean super, detailed riding impressions to share. I have a Mojo sitting in my living room (see my profile gallery) while I wait for the snow to melt around here and I am getting more psyched each time I read another glowing review.

I'm coming off of a GT Team LTS that I rode for nearly 10 years, and before that a GT Zaskar LE for a few years, I never thought my lower back would forgive me for that frame. So I am sort of in the same boat as you, back in the day, 2.5" travel was the business and the frame retailed for 2500. So by that account the Mojo frame should cost 5500, which means I got the rest of the bike for free.

The only complaint I've heard so far from Mojo owners is that everyone wants to talk about the thing, and friends are constantly trying to weasel test rides. That's a good problem to have and once the hype dies down, we'll still have one of the best bikes around.

Terrible for your day job. Now after thinking about sex every 12 seconds, the rest of the time is spent thinking about riding the Mojo.

Seriously, you will immediately notice that full suspension improves the ride as much or more as front suspension improved the ride over a rigid bike. Especially with the most efficient and balanced Mojo you’ll find that you’ll climb steeps you’ve never cleaned before, ride faster downhill, and recover from mistakes that previously would throw you to the ground.

A question...

Originally Posted by derby

Terrible for your day job. Now after thinking about sex every 12 seconds, the rest of the time is spent thinking about riding the Mojo.

Seriously, you will immediately notice that full suspension improves the ride as much or more as front suspension improved the ride over a rigid bike. Especially with the most efficient and balanced Mojo you’ll find that you’ll climb steeps you’ve never cleaned before, ride faster downhill, and recover from mistakes that previously would throw you to the ground.

I haven't had the opportunity to ride the Mojo, but I did ride a MK III and liked it a lot, except for one thing. Moving from a seated position, to an out of the saddle pedaling position felt awkward. In the saddle climbing in steep rocky terrain was excellent, but it did not work as well out of the saddle. It bobbed much more than my Tracer. I sometimes need to do some out of saddle climbs, especially coming out of a steep DH and transition to a steep climb. Do you notice this on the Mojo? I probably won't get a test ride in San Diego if I do go with the Mojo. I will compare my buddies Blur and MK III again on some of the climbs out of the saddle.

I haven't had the opportunity to ride the Mojo, but I did ride a MK III and liked it a lot, except for one thing. Moving from a seated position, to an out of the saddle pedaling position felt awkward. In the saddle climbing in steep rocky terrain was excellent, but it did not work as well out of the saddle. It bobbed much more than my Tracer. I sometimes need to do some out of saddle climbs, especially coming out of a steep DH and transition to a steep climb. Do you notice this on the Mojo? I probably won't get a test ride in San Diego if I do go with the Mojo. I will compare my buddies Blur and MK III again on some of the climbs out of the saddle.

What works for me (riding the Mojo) is to creep forward as needed on any super steep climb until sitting right on or just above the tip of the seat. With practice, jumping forward out of the seat to mash and go may work, but for now I move forward a bit at a time to keep from overshooting and spinning out. Almost any steep is climbable this way and I don't sense any bob. And yes, the bumpier the better. The Mojo just tracks, grabs, and goes. Try the MK III again and let us know.

Mojo vs. Tracer vs 5.5 standing climbing

I really only feel fork bob when standing and climbing, but when I look down the rear suspension is moving a little as well. I'm using the same type coil shock (old non-platform Vanilla-R) and same fork ('05 Nixon Elite coil) as I had on my Tracer (with fork wound lower to 115mm travel on the Tracer). Standing climbing on the Mojo feels a little firmer pedaling than the Tracer on smoother surface, and I think I can bust traction with a hard pedal lunge a little easier with the Mojo if the surface is loose, but when climbing in the rough it complies much deeper into the longer travel and maintains momentum better than the Tracer.

The MKiii has a 13 3/4 inch high BB when topped out, 3/4 inch higher BB than the Mojo, both measured with 2.1 tires, so that may affect the bob reaction somehow. Some on the IH forum say that the MKiii bob's least with 30% sag (which would lower the BB down to a common height for 5 inch travel). I run no more than 25% sag on the Mojo to keep the BB from getting too low for pedal clearance in my local rides. When I demoed the MKiii it did seem to have a little more standing pedaling bob action than the Mojo.

If you have tried a VPP with similar travel like the 5.5 you'd notice the VPP feels like a hardtail, it even jacks the rear suspension upwards in the middle ring (and granny) when standing and climbing where there is good traction, and busts traction much easier than the Tracer or Mojo or MKiii when pushed hard on loose surface. And VPP seated pedaling has very noticeable (to me) pedal feedback in very rough climbing conditions. I think the dw-Link is much better balanced than VPP.

Thanks Noshortcuts & Derby

Originally Posted by derby

I really only feel fork bob when standing and climbing, but when I look down the rear suspension is moving a little as well. I'm using the same type coil shock (old non-platform Vanilla-R) and same fork ('05 Nixon Elite coil) as I had on my Tracer (with fork wound lower to 115mm travel on the Tracer). Standing climbing on the Mojo feels a little firmer pedaling than the Tracer on smoother surface, and I think I can bust traction with a hard pedal lunge a little easier with the Mojo if the surface is loose, but when climbing in the rough it complies much deeper into the longer travel and maintains momentum better than the Tracer.

The MKiii has a 13 3/4 inch high BB when topped out, 3/4 inch higher BB than the Mojo, both measured with 2.1 tires, so that may affect the bob reaction somehow. Some on the IH forum say that the MKiii bob's least with 30% sag (which would lower the BB down to a common height for 5 inch travel). I run no more than 25% sag on the Mojo to keep the BB from getting too low for pedal clearance in my local rides. When I demoed the MKiii it did seem to have a little more standing pedaling bob action than the Mojo.

If you have tried a VPP with similar travel like the 5.5 you'd notice the VPP feels like a hardtail, it even jacks the rear suspension upwards in the middle ring (and granny) when standing and climbing where there is good traction, and busts traction much easier than the Tracer or Mojo or MKiii when pushed hard on loose surface. And VPP seated pedaling has very noticeable (to me) pedal feedback in very rough climbing conditions. I think the dw-Link is much better balanced than VPP.

I'll spend some more time on both the Blur and the MKIII before I decide between the Mojo and the 5.5 FRO. Thanks again!

One big thing that you have to think about with the transition between standing pedaling and seated pedaling is that dw-link is like a license to use less compression damping. You dont have to use less compression damping, but you can, and that can really help to increase traction.

When you use a shock that has less compression damping, your suspension can become much more active. It will absorb smaller bumps that the overdamped system cannot. Alternatively, if you lunge on the bike, say getting your hips and shoulders really into your pedaling when you are standing, your suspension is going to move more than if you had the system totally overdamped. Every rider is different. If you stand and pedal a lot, and you have a less efficient pedaling style where you try to use your weight to pedal the bike when you are standing, then you can raise the compression damping on your shock. You'll still have the advantages of bump absorption that come from the dw-link axle path, but you will lose some of the activeness in the suspension. Either way it will still be more able to absorb bumps when pedaling and ultimately more efficient than any other system.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by _dw

One big thing that you have to think about with the transition between standing pedaling and seated pedaling is that dw-link is like a license to use less compression damping. You dont have to use less compression damping, but you can, and that can really help to increase traction.

When you use a shock that has less compression damping, your suspension can become much more active. It will absorb smaller bumps that the overdamped system cannot. Alternatively, if you lunge on the bike, say getting your hips and shoulders really into your pedaling when you are standing, your suspension is going to move more than if you had the system totally overdamped. Every rider is different. If you stand and pedal a lot, and you have a less efficient pedaling style where you try to use your weight to pedal the bike when you are standing, then you can raise the compression damping on your shock. You'll still have the advantages of bump absorption that come from the dw-link axle path, but you will lose some of the activeness in the suspension. Either way it will still be more able to absorb bumps when pedaling and ultimately more efficient than any other system.

I like Dw's recommendation on dampening which makes allot of sense. So with added dampening Dw-link will climb out of the saddle similar to Vpp ?
Each rider is different and I like the kick of the Vpp climbing and it is worth a little pedal feedback. (much less than a single pivot.)
I really like to be "less efficient" in non-super tech climbing like fire roads; getting out of the saddle allot. Changing my riding position helps activate different muscle groups. Plus, I'm in it for the aerobic exercise so sitting my fat ass on a saddle all the time probably is not the best thing for me.
Now for really technical steeps I finesse on the nose of seat or stand WITH balance to maintain forward momentum. (First learned to do track stands in steep rock gardens.) The better your balance, the less you are tied to forward momentum keeping you going to clear stuff. non-thinking om~ (The zen of technical steeps is fun stuff.)
I often winde down the fork and add allot of fork platform. This keeps le fork from diving much thus screwing balance and causing rear tire spin-out as the angle and balance changes dramatically over rocks and roots.
Ah; more aerobic toys to play with in the woods every day !

In reality and based on the physics that define all suspensions, you will be able to run less damping on a dw-link bike and maintain more traction than any other suspension being sold today. Climbing wise, on the same trail, with same tires, and the same rider, the dw-link bike should have more traction and absorb bumps more easily, while at the same time having less pedal feedback and less wasted energy. The more that you overdamp the bike, the less of a traction advantage that you will have, but even at equal damping the dw-link anti-squat is still working for you.

Getting out of the saddle doesn't mean that you have to be less efficient, you just have to curb bad habits. Keep your hips and shoulders from heaving up and down as you pedal. Not only will your bike be more efficient, but you will move your extremities less and canserve energy there also. I'm working on some videos to illustrate.